Lancashire Cup 2nd Round

Manchester...0pts

Sedgley Park U16s...17pts

THIS long-awaited fixture finally took place at Manchester on Sunday.

The Lancashire Cup holderss made hard work of it, but finally ran out 17-0 winners.

Last-minute injuries and illness forced three unanticipated changes, so yet again the squad depth showed through.

On a boggy pitch the pace of the Sedgley backs was nullified and it was down to the forwards to grind out the hard yards.

In the pack Peter Downs had a magnificent game, both in the line-out and the loose, and earned himself another Man of the

Match award.

He was run close by Danny McBurnie, debutant Chris Brock

and scrum half Mike Holland, who gave his opposite number a torrid time.

The first try was scored by McBurnie just before half-time and was well-deserved.

Some poor handling let Manchester off the hook several times but, credit to them, they tackled tenaciously. It was another forward drive that set up the second try and saw 'Big Matt' Hancox drive over from close range.

Injuries caused numerous delays to the game and Brown and Holland were forced to leave the field. This meant Appleton moving to his old position of scrum half, but before long he was back in the groove and dummied his way over for the game-clinching try which Harris converted.

There were some very good individual performances, but due to a disrupted season the team has not quite clicked together yet as a unit.

Sedgley's opponents in the semi-final will be Rochdale.